Dr. Elizabeth Kirby
Contact Information
Associate Professor, Behavioral Neuroscience
Education
- PhD, University of California, Berkeley, 2011
- BS, Duke University, 2006
The hippocampus, a key brain area for memory function, changes dramatically in response to both beneficial and detrimental stimuli. Our lab focuses on the role of hippocampal neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPCs) in modulating the hippocampal response to environmental stimuli. We are especially interested in how the secretome of NSPCs can help define plastic versus pathological responses in the adult hippocampus.
Awards, Honors and Recognition
2023: Early Career Faculty Award, The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences
2019: Psychology Department Distinguished Teaching Award, The Ohio State University
2013 – 2015: National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellowship, Stanford University
2011: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Pre-doctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley
2010: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Pre-doctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley
2007-2009: National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley
2008: Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention, National Science Foundation
2007: Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention, National Science Foundation
2006: Howard Hughes Neuroscience Fellow, Duke University
2005: Faculty Scholars Award, Highest Undergraduate Honor Given by Duke University Faculty for Innovative Scholarship
2005: Phi Beta Kappa, Duke University
2005: NSF-REU Fellow: Summer School in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, Michigan State University
2004: NSF-REU Fellow: Mechanisms of Behavior, Duke University
Selected Publications
Devasthali N*, Carter I*, Saulsbery AI, Kirby ED. (2025) Postnatal development of the dentate gyrus vascular niche. Sci Rep 15, 38550.
Dause TJ, Osap R, Kuwahara AA, Denninger JK, Kirby ED. (2025). Intracrine VEGF Signaling Is Required for Adult Hippocampal Neural Stem Cell Maintenance and Vascular Proximity. Molecular Neurobiology.
Miller LN, Walters AE, Denninger JK, Hanson MA, Marshall AH, Johantges AC, Hosawi M, Sebring G, Rieskamp JD, Ding T, Rindani R, Chen KS, Goldberg ME, Senthilvelan S, Volk A, Zhao F, Askwith C, Wester JC, Kirby ED. (2025). Neural stem and progenitor cells support and protect adult hippocampal function via vascular endothelial growth factor secretion. Molecular Psychiatry.
Sridharan D, Dougherty JA, Ahmed U, Sanghvi SK, Alvi SB, Park KH, Knoblaugh SE, Singh H, Kirby ED, Khan M. (2024). Bioorthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging to track transplanted human induced pluripotent stem cell-specific proteome. Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 15, 186.
Dause TJ, Denninger JK, Osap R, Walters AE, Rieskamp JD, Kirby ED. (2024) Autocrine VEGF drives neural stem cell proximity to the adult hippocampus vascular niche. Life Sci Alliance. 2024 Apr 17;7(7):e202402659. DOI. PMID: 38631901; PMCID: PMC11024344.
Rieskamp JD, Rosado-Burgos I, Christofi, JE, Ansar E, Einstein D, Walters AE, Valentini V, Bruno JP, Kirby ED. (2023). Excitatory amino acid transporter 1 supports adult hippocampal neural stem cell self-renewal. iScience, 26, 107068.
Dause TJ, Denninger JK, Smith BM, Kirby ED. 2022. The neural stem cell secretome across neurodevelopment. Experimental Neurology, 355: 114142.
Smith BM, Saulsbery AI, Sarchet P, Devasthali N, Einstein D, Kirby ED. (2022). Oral and injected tamoxifen alter adult hippocampal neurogenesis in female and male mice. eNeuro.
Denninger JK, Walker LA, Chen X, Turkoglu A, Pan A, Tapp Z, Senthilvelan S, Rindani R, Kokiko-Cochran O, Bundschuh R, Yan P, Kirby ED. (2022). Robust transcriptional profiling and identification of differentially expressed genes with low input RNA sequencing of adult hippocampal neural stem and progenitor populations. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience.
Rieskamp JD, Smith B, Sarchet P, Kirby ED. (2022). Estimation of the density of neural, glial, and endothelial lineage cells in the adult mouse dentate gyrus. Neural Regeneration Research, 17: 1286-1292.